During this monitoring period, the growth of summer crops in this MPZ was above average resulting in a 7% increase of BIOMSS. This was due to higher cumulative rainfall (+9%), 0.3°C lower average temperature and 0.7% higher RADPAR across the main production areas compared to the average of the last 15 years.

Based on the rainfall departure map, the rainfall varied significantly in the MPZ. The specific spatial and temporal distribution characteristics are as follows: (1) From April to May, the precipitation was slightly above average in Poland, southern Belarus, northern Ukraine, western Romania and parts of Russia. However, the precipitation in these regions was slightly below average in late May. (2) From late May to mid-June, the precipitation in eastern Romania, southern Ukraine and southern Russia (38.9% of the MPZ) increased sharply and was higher than average. After late June, the precipitation in these regions decreased and was lower than average, except for a few areas of western Russia. (3) In early July, the precipitation in some areas accounting for 2.2% of the MPZ increased to the highest value (+105 mm), and then dropped sharply to below-average levels.

According to its departure map, the temperature in the MPZ fluctuated dramatically. The western part of the MPZ, which is mainly distributed in southern Belarus, Moldova, Poland, Ukraine and Romania, accounting for 45.6% of the total area, had lower average temperature from April to early June, with a negative departure by 4.6℃ in late April. In July, the temperature in these regions was above average, with the highest positive temperature departure by 6.6℃.

The results of CropWatch monitoring showed that most of the arable land in the MPZ was planted with the exception of a small part of southeastern Russia, where the CALF reached 98.34%. The BIOMSS in the MPZ increased by 7% compared to the average of the last 15 years. Based on the spatial distribution map of BIOMSS departure, a negative departure by more than 10% occurred in small parts of southern Russia, southern Ukraine and southern Romania. In contrast, the highest positve BIOMSS departure, which was 10% above the average, was mainly located in the western part of Russia, most of Belarus, the northeastern part of Poland and some parts of Romania. The overall Maximum VCI of the MPZ was 0.91 on average, and the areas with the Maximum VCI over 0.8 were mainly located in the western part of the MPZ.

In general, crop growth in the MPZ was above average during the monitoring period. The crops recovered quickly from the generally below-average temperatures in April and May, aided by the overall above-average precipitation. Therefore, the yield in the MPZ is expected to be above average during this monitoring period.

a. Spatial distribution of rainfall profiles                         b. Profiles of rainfall depature from average(mm)

c. Spatial distribution of temperature profiles                 d. Profiles of temperature depature from average(℃)

                    e. Cropped and uncropped arable land                                             f. Potential biomass departure from 5YA

                                   g. VHI Minimum                                                                           f. Maximum VCI